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The research reported in this paper describes the development, empirical validation and analysis of a model of technology acceptance by Australian occupational therapists. The study described involved the collection of quantitative data through a national survey, with over 2000 responses and a longitudinal case study within the community health sector. Results provide qualitative and quantitative support for the proposed model and demonstrate the inadequacy of traditional models of technology acceptance when applied to the health sector. This work extends technology acceptance studies into new realms of the health sector and highlights the need for a broadening of health IT research, and particularly technology acceptance studies, to encompass a more holistic and inclusive view of those who work in healthcare in order to gain a greater understanding of its complexities and how IS implementation success can be enhanced in this arena.

IMPORTANCE COVID-19 has highlighted widespread chronic underinvestment in digital health that hampered public health responses to the pandemic. Recognizing this, the Riyadh Declaration on Digital Health, formulated by an international interdisciplinary team of medical, academic, and industry experts at the Riyadh Global Digital Health Summit in August 2020, provided a set of digital health recommendations for the global health community to address the challenges of current and future pandemics. However, guidance is needed on how to implement these recommendations in practice. OBJECTIVETo develop guidance for stakeholders on how best to deploy digital health and data and support public health in an integrated manner to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics. EVIDENCE REVIEW Themes were determined by first reviewing the literature and Riyadh GlobalDigital Health Summit conference proceedings, with experts independently contributing ideas. Then, 2 rounds of review were conducted until all experts agreed on the themes and main issues arising using a nominal group technique to reach consensus. Prioritization was based on how useful the consensus recommendation might be to a policy maker.FINDINGS A diverse stakeholder group of 13 leaders in the fields of public health, digital health, and health care were engaged to reach a consensus on how to implement digital health recommendations to address the challenges of current and future pandemics. Participants reached a consensus on high-priority issues identified within 5 themes: team, transparency and trust, technology, techquity (the strategic development and deployment of technology in health care and health to achieve health equity), and transformation. Each theme contains concrete points of consensus to guide the local, national, and international adoption of digital health to address challenges of current and future pandemics. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThe consensus points described for these themes provide a roadmap for the implementation of digital health policy by all stakeholders, including governments. Implementation of these recommendations could have a significant impact by reducing fatalities and uniting countries on current and future battles against pandemics.

In the absence of international standards, widely differing attitudes and laws, medical and social cultures strongly influence whether and how patients may access their medical records in various settings of care. Reviewing records, including the notes clinicians write, can help shape how people participate in their own care. Aided at times by new technologies, individual patients and care partners are repurposing existing tools and designing innovative, often ‘low-tech’ ways to collect, sort and interpret their own health information. To illustrate diverse approaches that individuals may take, six individuals from six nations offer anecdotes demonstrating how they are learning to collect, assess and benefit from their personal health information.